Portugal Telecom Sets Hurdles
That Sonaecom Likely Can Jump

Portugal Telecom has raised the bar that its tiny predator will have to jump over. But Portugal's former telecom monopoly probably hasn't done enough to escape Sonaecom. (See related article.)

PT's defense rests on getting more than &euro;3 billion ($3.61 billion) to its investors between 2006 and 2008, which it can do in two ways. First, it wants to gear up. The group's current debt level (including pensions) of about 2.1 times this year's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization allows...